Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Patil's NO

Sandeep Patil has turned down India A coaching job (for the Abu Dhabi trip) citing other commitments. But the apparent reason is his (rightful) insistance of a permanent contract, and the BCCI's poor attitude towards it. I can't imagine any usefulness of a coach on a case-by-case basis...heck even the team manager, which is so appointed, should be a permanent position (and even the players have insisted on it). His statement in the above article..

"I heard nothing before yesterday when secretary Niranjan Shah called me to ask me if I can accompany the team to Abu Dhabi and Australia," he continued. "This is most unfortunate. I have been India A coach since 1994 but still haven't been able to get a contract."

..while it may not be a verbatim quote of Shah's actual request, does display the attitude that BCCI is showing towards this issue. They want a filler tag for the role...someone to accompany the 'kids' on their long lonely journey.